Behavioral nudges can help improve vaccine uptake, but there have been limited studies on this in low- and middle-income countries, especially in Africa. To support the ongoing efforts of the National Department of Health and partners in accelerating the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines, Project Last Mile collaborated with Ipsos to undertake the first nationally representative study in South Africa. The study aimed to understand and explore the feasibility of incentive programs and behavioral nudges to improve COVID-19 vaccination rates.
Strengthening the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out in Eswatini
In the Kingdom of Eswatini in southern Africa, Project Last Mile is leveraging Coca-Cola system best practices in route-to-market, cold chain, and strategic marketing to strengthen supply and demand for COVID-19 vaccines, strategically collaborating with partners across workstreams to improve uptake and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines down to the last mile.
Project Last Mile supports disaster recovery to ensure ongoing chronic medication access in South Africa
Throughout COVID-19, Project Last Mile supported the CCMDD program in identifying ways to enable more patients to access chronic medication to reduce the strain on overburdened health facilities. When the riots began in KwaZulu-Natal, the NDoH, supported by Project Last Mile, designed and executed a recovery plan built on its existing disaster recovery planning.
Project Last Mile’s 2021 annual report
With the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Project Last Mile is seeking to identify and support innovators and social enterprises which demonstrate a proven or promising market-based approach to improve the availability, access to, or uptake of family planning commodities or relevant products in Africa through Project Last Mile technical assistance in the area route-to-market. Successful applicants will be poised for growth and serving customers in eligible countries in Africa.
Project Last Mile’s 2020 annual report released
With the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Project Last Mile is seeking to identify and support innovators and social enterprises which demonstrate a proven or promising market-based approach to improve the availability, access to, or uptake of family planning commodities or relevant products in Africa through Project Last Mile technical assistance in the area route-to-market. Successful applicants will be poised for growth and serving customers in eligible countries in Africa.
Call for applications: matching health enterprises with private sector expertise to improve family planning
With the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Project Last Mile is seeking to identify and support innovators and social enterprises which demonstrate a proven or promising market-based approach to improve the availability, access to, or uptake of family planning commodities or relevant products in Africa through Project Last Mile technical assistance in the area route-to-market. Successful applicants will be poised for growth and serving customers in eligible countries in Africa.
Findings on the operational feasibility of maintaining ultra-cold temperatures to distribute COVID-19 vaccines – the availability of dry ice within the Coca-Cola value chain in 70 countries
Project Last Mile leveraged its networks within the Coca-Cola system in Africa, Latin America and the Pacific Islands to identify potential sources of dry ice and liquid carbon dioxide to evaluate availability of existing carbon dioxide. Fifteen bottler and 35 liquid carbon dioxide and dry ice suppliers from the Coca-Cola system were consulted for this assessment. The quantities of dry ice and liquid carbon dioxide available by country were mapped against demand determined by the COVAX Delivery Model and shortfalls in capacity were identified.
The development of the Girl Champ brand in eSwatini: engaging the private sector to promote uptake of health services among adolescent girls and young women
This paper, published in SAHARA-J, describes the development of the GirlGhamp brand in eSwatini. This team wove together two very different qualitative research methods – the market research from Olson-Zaltman and the evaluation from Yale – to describe how private sector strategic marketing approaches can be translated for public health behavior change.
The evolution of trust within a global health partnership with the private sector: an inductive framework
This paper, published in IJHPM, uses longitudinal qualitative data from Mozambique, South Africa, and eSwatini to show how trust in multi-sector partnerships evolves over time. The resulting framework can be used by others seeking to embark on or strengthen partnerships, consistent with PLM’s aim of inspiring broader private sector engagement.
Partnering with the Global Fund since 2010
Project Last Mile was created in 2010 to leverage and share core private sector expertise to improve health systems across Africa in a sustainable way. To do this, Project Last Mile leverages logistical, supply chain and marketing expertise of the Coca-Cola system to improve the reach and uptake of lifesaving medicines, including HIV medicines, and health services in Africa.